In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organisation gave Israel the most generous offer in Palestinian history. The PLO accepted the state of Israel, conceded 78% of historic Palestine to “a Jewish State,” and condemned “terrorism in all its forms” and asked in return for a state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

This should’ve been Israel’s dream scenario: ending the conflict, the First Intifada, and its international isolation and securing its future in the region. However, Tel Aviv went into full panic mode instead.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir immediately rejected the PLO’s gesture, deeming it “crazy and dangerous” and vowing that Israel “will never permit the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories”.

His Defence Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, pledged to use “an iron fist” to crush this peace offering. Israel’s Foreign Ministry activated a damage control team to smear the PLO’s proposal. The one Israeli journalist, David Grossman, who dared to report the PLO’s decision was sacked from his radio job and attacked in the Knesset and all over Israeli media.

Israel’s government and US pro-Israeli organisations also criticised American Jews who met Yasser Arafat to build on his peace gesture. The US denied Arafat a visa to present his offer at the UN General Assembly.

Today, history repeats itself, as European countries try to offer Israel a way out of its heavily damaged image from the Gaza genocide.